Show Pony
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In Show Pony, Em Setzer plays in the sandbox of myth and metamorphosis, exploring the porous boundaries between living and performing, waking and dreaming, loving and obsessing. Casting a wide net for inspiration, this collection synthesizes its references – from myth to pop culture, Ovid to David Lynch – into one lexicon of surreal sensuality. The poems shimmer with kinetic energy, exploiting the transformative potential of every word, line, and image, with the poet oftentimes pouring traditional language into untraditional containers. At once archaic and hyper-modern, this collection offers meditations on the self as it moves through love, oftentimes cloaked as dispatches from another world. It asks questions, of the self, the beloved, and the world around them. “I know the / skin and lining of your life. But / do you?” asks a siren in an interrogation of the speaker. Show Pony represents the poet’s intimate, unwinding attempt to arrive at an answer.